War and Peace : Book 06, Chapter 06

1869

People

(1828 - 1910) ~ Father of Christian Anarchism : In 1861, during the second of his European tours, Tolstoy met with Proudhon, with whom he exchanged ideas. Inspired by the encounter, Tolstoy returned to Yasnaya Polyana to found thirteen schools that were the first attempt to implement a practical model of libertarian education. (From : Anarchy Archives.) • "It usually happens that when an idea which has been useful and even necessary in the past becomes superfluous, that idea, after a more or less prolonged struggle, yields its place to a new idea which was till then an ideal, but which thus becomes a present idea." (From : "Patriotism and Government," by Leo Tolstoy, May 1....) • "The Government and all those of the upper classes near the Government who live by other people's work, need some means of dominating the workers, and find this means in the control of the army. Defense against foreign enemies is only an excuse. The German Government frightens its subjects about the Russians and the French; the French Government, frightens its people about the Germans; the Russian Government frightens its people about the French and the Germans; and that is the way with all Governments. But neither Germans nor Russians nor Frenchmen desire to fight their neighbors or other people; but, living in peace, they dread war more than anything else in the world." (From : "Letter to a Non-Commissioned Officer," by Leo Tol....) • "Only by recognizing the land as just such an article of common possession as the sun and air will you be able, without bias and justly, to establish the ownership of land among all men, according to any of the existing projects or according to some new project composed or chosen by you in common." (From : "To the Working People," by Leo Tolstoy, Yasnaya P....)

CHAPTER VI

During the first weeks of his stay in Petersburg Prince Andrew felt the
whole trend of thought he had formed during his life of seclusion quite
overshadowed by the trifling cares that engrossed him in that city.

On returning home in the evening he would jot down in his notebook four or
five necessary calls or appointments for certain hours. The mechanism of
life, the arrangement of the day so as to be in time everywhere, absorbed
the greater part of his vital energy. He did nothing, did not even think
or find time to think, but only talked, and talked successfully, of what
he had thought while in the country.

He sometimes noticed with dissatisfaction that he repeated the same remark
on the same day in different circles. But he was so busy for whole days
together that he had no time to notice that he was thinking of nothing.

As he had done on their first meeting at Kochubéy’s, Speránski produced a
strong impression on Prince Andrew on the Wednesday, when he received him
tête-à-tête at his own house and talked to him long and confidentially.

To Bolkónski so many people appeared contemptible and insignificant
creatures, and he so longed to find in someone the living ideal of that
perfection toward which he strove, that he readily believed that in
Speránski he had found this ideal of a perfectly rational and virtuous
man. Had Speránski sprung from the same class as himself and possessed the
same breeding and traditions, Bolkónski would soon have discovered his
weak, human, unheroic sides; but as it was, Speránski’s strange and
logical turn of mind inspired him with respect all the more because he did
not quite understand him. Moreover, Speránski, either because he
appreciated the other’s capacity or because he considered it necessary to
win him to his side, showed off his dispassionate calm reasonableness
before Prince Andrew and flattered him with that subtle flattery which
goes hand in hand with self-assurance and consists in a tacit assumption
that one’s companion is the only man besides oneself capable of
understanding the folly of the rest of mankind and the reasonableness and
profundity of one’s own ideas.

During their long conversation on Wednesday evening, Speránski more than
once remarked: “We regard everything that is above the common level of
rooted custom...” or, with a smile: “But we want the wolves to
be fed and the sheep to be safe...” or: “They cannot understand
this...” and all in a way that seemed to say: “We, you and I,
understand what they are and who we are.”

This first long conversation with Speránski only strengthened in Prince
Andrew the feeling he had experienced toward him at their first meeting.
He saw in him a remarkable, clear-thinking man of vast intellect who by
his energy and persistence had attained power, which he was using solely
for the welfare of Russia. In Prince Andrew’s eyes Speránski was the man
he would himself have wished to be—one who explained all the facts
of life reasonably, considered important only what was rational, and was
capable of applying the standard of reason to everything. Everything
seemed so simple and clear in Speránski’s exposition that Prince Andrew
involuntarily agreed with him about everything. If he replied and argued,
it was only because he wished to maintain his independence and not submit
to Speránski’s opinions entirely. Everything was right and everything was
as it should be: only one thing disconcerted Prince Andrew. This was
Speránski’s cold, mirrorlike look, which did not allow one to penetrate to
his soul, and his delicate white hands, which Prince Andrew involuntarily
watched as one does watch the hands of those who possess power. This
mirrorlike gaze and those delicate hands irritated Prince Andrew, he knew
not why. He was unpleasantly struck, too, by the excessive contempt for
others that he observed in Speránski, and by the diversity of lines of
argument he used to support his opinions. He made use of every kind of
mental device, except analogy, and passed too boldly, it seemed to Prince
Andrew, from one to another. Now he would take up the position of a
practical man and condemn dreamers; now that of a satirist, and laugh
ironically at his opponents; now grow severely logical, or suddenly rise
to the realm of metaphysics. (This last resource was one he very
frequently employed.) He would transfer a question to metaphysical
heights, pass on to definitions of space, time, and thought, and, having
deduced the refutation he needed, would again descend to the level of the
original discussion.

In general the trait of Speránski’s mentality which struck Prince Andrew
most was his absolute and unshakable belief in the power and authority of
reason. It was evident that the thought could never occur to him which to
Prince Andrew seemed so natural, namely, that it is after all impossible
to express all one thinks; and that he had never felt the doubt, “Is not
all I think and believe nonsense?” And it was just this peculiarity of
Speránski’s mind that particularly attracted Prince Andrew.

During the first period of their acquaintance Bolkónski felt a passionate
admiration for him similar to that which he had once felt for Bonaparte.
The fact that Speránski was the son of a village priest, and that stupid
people might meanly despise him on account of his humble origin (as in
fact many did), caused Prince Andrew to cherish his sentiment for him the
more, and unconsciously to strengthen it.

On that first evening Bolkónski spent with him, having mentioned the
Commission for the Revision of the Code of Laws, Speránski told him
sarcastically that the Commission had existed for a hundred and fifty
years, had cost millions, and had done nothing except that Rosenkampf had
stuck labels on the corresponding paragraphs of the different codes.

“And that is all the state has for the millions it has spent,” said he.
“We want to give the Senate new juridical powers, but we have no laws.
That is why it is a sin for men like you, Prince, not to serve in these
times!”

Prince Andrew said that for that work an education in jurisprudence was
needed which he did not possess.

“But nobody possesses it, so what would you have? It is a vicious circle
from which we must break a way out.”

A week later Prince Andrew was a member of the Committee on Army
Regulations and—what he had not at all expected—was chairman
of a section of the committee for the revision of the laws. At Speránski’s
request he took the first part of the Civil Code that was being drawn up
and, with the aid of the Code Napoléon and the Institutes of Justinian, he
worked at formulating the section on Personal Rights.